HP Could Dump Apotheker for Whitman [REPORT]

[Waqas 48]

According to a new report, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is being considered to take over as CEO at Hewlett Packard.

According to AllThingsD‘s Kara Swisher, Whitman is one name the HP board has been floating as a replacement for current HP CEO Leo Apotheker. Whitman joined the HP board of directors in January.

When reached for comment an HP spokesperson told us, “It’s the company’s long-standing policy not to comment on speculation.”

Since failing in her bid for governor of California last November, Whitman has acted as a consultant at Kleiner Perkins.

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Is Apotheker On the Way Out?

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Perhaps the larger news is that it appears Apotheker is on his way out from HP. Since taking the job last year, Apotheker has made sweeping changes across the company, including shutting down the webOS hardware business just six weeks after the launch of the TouchPad. Apotheker also expressed interest in either spinning out or selling off HP’s PC business, a move that would radically redefine Hewlett-Packard as we know it today.

As The Wall Street Journal’s Al Lewis outlined in his scathing indictment of Hewlett-Packard last month, the company is facing real challenges. And Swisher notes that HP’s stock has dropped more than 43% since Apotheker took over.

Could Meg Whitman be the right person for the job? It’s true that Whitman’s run as CEO of eBay was an overall success, but it wasn’t without missteps. Whitman was responsible for the disastrous Skype deal and seemed unsure of how to define eBay as it moved into its second act. With a mature company like Hewlett Packard — one that has already had three CEOs in the last decade — it will be essential that top leadership understands the company’s vision and plans for future growth.

Swisher makes it clear that Whitman “is by no means a done deal.” We’ll continue to watch this story as it develops.

Image courtesy of Flickr, megwhitman2010

More About: Hewlett-Packard, Leo Apotheker, meg whitman

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